Engraved Invitation to Royal Norwegian Embassy for 70th Birthday Anniversary of His Majesty King Haakon of Norway [in Exile]

Washington: Royal Norwegian Embassy. Very Good+. 1942. First Edition. Cards. 1 pages; Printed invitation reads: "To celebrate the Seventieth Birthday Anniversary of / His Majesty King Haakon of Norway / The Ambassador of Norway and Mrs. Munthe Morgenstierne / request the pleasure of your company / at a reception / on Monday, August the third / from 6:00 to 8:00 o'clock / Royal Norwegian Embassy" King Haakon VII (1872 – 1957) was born Prince Carl of Denmark and was the King of Norway from November 1905 until his death in 1957. When Norway was invaded by Nazi Germany in April 1940, Haakon rejected German demands to legitimise the Quisling regime's puppet government, and refused to abdicate after going into exile in Great Britain. For his courageous resistance to the Germans, he became known as "Democracy's King." His exile explains why this important Anniversary was celebrated in London and Washington instead of Nazi occupied Oslo. Wilhelm Munthe de Morgenstierne (1897- 1963) was Norway's Ambassador to the United States from 1942 to 1958. William Howard Taft was President of the U.S. when Wilhelm Munthe de Morgenstierne arrived in Washington as a junior attaché at the old Norwegian legation in 1910. Named Norway's Minister to the U.S. in 1934 and Ambassador in 1942, he saw the U.S. through seven other Presidents, three wars, depression and unprecedented prosperity. In 1958 on the eve of his retirement, paid a farewell visit to an old friend, Dwight Eisenhower. As he left the White House, Morgenstierne offered some advice about the nation he had watched over 47 years. "Never lose faith in the U.S. as a leader of the free world. I don't think the U.S. is going to fail the free world—just wait and see." This invitation was included in material from the family of Kermit Roosevelt Jr.; either Belle Roosevelt (Mrs. Kermit Roosevelt Sr.) or Kermit Jr. and his wife Polly are the likely recipients of the invitation. .